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Adoption Fees Gifts and Trades

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Raising puppies well isn’t free or cheap, even when you try to do it all yourself. We make/provide our own dog food~ and believe me, mama dogs and growing puppies can EAT!! A LOT!!! They tear up things that cost money to replace. Sometimes a dog has to go to the vet. In fact, every winter so far we’ve had pups come down with “salmon poisoning”. This year is no different, we’re currently treating 6 pups for it. (The good news is once they’ve had it, they develop an immunity to it.) There’s fencing, bedding and kennels, brushes, worming medicine and flea control and plenty of other expenditures to consider.

We don’t make money breeding our dogs. It’s not something we’re planning on doing forever. We fell into it and now consider it a service to provide farm families with really great guardian dogs. They’re hard to come by these days.

We ask a reasonable re-homing fee also because we want to make sure families who adopt our dogs have the means to feed and care for them into the future.

That said, not all abundance is measured in money. As one farm family told us, “we’re money-poor but asset-rich.” We traded them for a milk cow.

We’re open to trades as long as it’s something we really value and need~like livestock. Or fencing! As for the fee, we’d say the longer we keep a puppy the more it costs us in both time and resources…and the more training it receives. In many ways an older pup is more valuable. It depends on your circumstances. On the other hand, it becomes more challenging–and more important– to find JUST the RIGHT match for older dogs because they’ve already developed certain characteristics and preferences that need to be in alignment with their new family. Some folks, like those with adult LGDs, prefer a younger pup. For a 9+ week old puppy we’re asking a contribution in the neighborhood of $500 or trade value in that range. If this seems too high but you’re serious about wanting these pups and you have a great home for them, please feel free to make an offer that you CAN afford including trade. The thing we care about the MOST is the great home and the good match. (This litter has been expensive to raise but they have an advantage for you that they have an immunity to the salmon poisoning.

To reserve puppies a deposit will be needed.

Below is a list of things we’d consider trading for:

*Healthy Livestock and livestock supplies; sheep, cows, pigs and various poultry too. Doubtful on goats. We’re getting some rabbits but we might take more.